Europe pleased by summit fiasco

Bernard D. Kaplan, EXAMINER PARIS BUREAU

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, October 5, 1996

1996-10-05 04:00:00 PDT MIDDLE EAST; ISRAEL; FRANCE; UNITED STATES -- PARIS - The failure of the hastily -arranged Washington summit to overcome the Israeli-Palestinian crisis had its positive side for some European leaders, among them French President Jacques Chirac.

Chirac and a number of other government chiefs were openly miffed by President Clinton's failure to invite Europe to be represented at the talks.

So, when the meeting between Clinton, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and King Hussein of Jordan failed to make progress, the Europeans saw the result as vindication for themselves. They judged it a setback for what they criticize as the Americans' unwarranted assumption of an exclusive political role in the Middle East.

U.S.-European diplomatic competition has long been an aspect of the Arab-Israeli conflict. In the past, it was seldom more than a minor irritant to American officials, whose military and economic clout in the region was clearly predominant.

However, Washington policymakers may have to give greater consideration to their European rivals in the future.

According to French Middle East analyst Marie-Madeline Rouart: "European, especially French, officials think American influence on the Israelis and Palestinians is . . . diminishing.

"Their view is that the hard-line Netanyahu government is less likely to bow to U.S. pressure than previous Israeli governments, even right-wing ones. Secondly, they think Arafat can no longer afford to rely on Washington alone to deliver Israeli concessions."

Thus, the Europeans are determined to exert a greater voice in the crisis.

German diplomatic analyst Gunther Leiter said, "Up to now, Europe's effort to conduct an integrated foreign policy has been a dismal flop, as for example in the former Yugoslavia. Officials of the 15-member European Union see the Middle East crisis as an opportunity to prove that a joint foreign policy can work, Leiter said.

The Europeans also are riled because, although they have contributed $400 million in aid to the Palestinians during the past two years to help the peace process, they have not received a commensurate political role, and they blame the United States for that failure, he noted.

Chirac has been the leading spirit in the move to assert more influence in the Middle East. In part, his attitude reflects France's traditional ambition to remove itself wherever possible from America's shadow.

But the French president's stance is also influenced by his pressing domestic political and economic problems.

"Like many politicians before him, he is trying to build up his international image to take the voters' minds off his inability to reduce unemployment and provide prosperity," according to Paris political analyst Francois Gilbert." &lt;